Boston College bowl eligible with win over Wake Forest

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) -- Tommy Sweeney saw Boston College's defense do its part for most of Saturday's game against Wake Forest. The Eagles tight end realized the offense had to contribute, too.

Patrick Towles threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Sweeney with 8:03 remaining and Boston College's defense made two late stands in a 17-14 victory.

"We knew at some point we had to go down and win this game," Sweeney said.

The winning drive covered 73 yards on eight plays, including a fourth-and-6 conversion when Towles threw for 16 yards to Sweeney. The next pass was delivered to Sweeney in the back of the end zone.

"They put me in perfect position," Sweeney said of the play called by the coaches. "I just had to catch the ball."

The Eagles (6-6, 2-6 ACC), who've won two games in a row, are bowl eligible for the third time in four seasons.

"It's just an amazing feeling," defensive end Harold Landry said of becoming bowl-bound. "We're going to celebrate this win and getting bowl eligible and then we've got to get back to work."

Wake Forest's Mike Weaver was wide left on a 40-yard field goal attempt with 1:22 remaining. The Demon Deacons got the ball back again after a Boston College punt, but Lukas Denis' interception clinched the outcome with 15 seconds to play.

"I think it shows resiliency of our team," Boston College coach Steve Addazio said. "We battled, we scratched, we clawed, we hung in there and overcame a bunch of stuff. .

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We were able to scratch our way back in and get into a bowl game."

Wake Forest held a 287-167 advantage in total offense.

"It shouldn't come down to one play or one kick," Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said. "There were a lot of opportunities to make plays earlier in the game that we didn't make."

John Wolford threw a pair of third-quarter touchdown passes to help Wake Forest (6-6, 3-5) wipe out a 10-0 deficit. Wolford threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Cam Serigne, and then a 37-yard scoring strike to Cortez Lewis, who fell into the end zone while making the catch.

Boston College hadn't been scored upon for more than 105 minutes dating back to a Nov. 11 game at Florida State.

Two early turnovers enabled the Eagles to score twice in the first quarter.

John Johnson's interception of Wolford led to Mike Knoll's 22-yard field goal to open the scoring. After Wake Forest's Jessie Bates fumbled on a punt return, the Eagles went 25 yards, scoring on Myles Willis' 11-yard touchdown run.

Wake Forest's first good scoring chance stalled with a failed fourth-and-1 play from the Boston College 19 in the first quarter. A dropped pass on fourth-and-2 from the Boston College 32-yard line thwarted a second-quarter drive for the Demon Deacons.

Weaver missed a 51-yard field goal attempt in the final minute of the first half.

Boston College led 10-0 at halftime despite racking up only 58 yards of total offense.

"To me, the bigger story is just, again, we start so slow on offense," Clawson said. "We get shut out in the first half. We just didn't make plays."

THE TAKEAWAY

Boston College: The Eagles won two ACC games this season and both came in the state of North Carolina. The other was Oct. 29 at North Carolina State.

Wake Forest: John Wolford returned after a one-game absence, missing the Clemson game with various ailments. Wolford's first pass attempt was batted into the air and caught by 325-pound senior offensive guard Tyler Hayworth, so that counted for his first career reception. It went for minus-4 yards.

KEY MOMENT

The last of Landry's 4.5 sacks in the game came on third down on Wake Forest's final possession and put the Demon Deacons in a desperate situation. Landry, playing in his home state, eclipsed Boston College's single-season sack record, which had been 15. He has 16.5 going into the bowl game.

UP NEXT

Boston College: The Eagles will head to a bowl for the first time since 2014 with their six-win regular season.

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